Maybe it is just me, but back in the day when I could stay up late enough to watch the talk shows I wondered what I would say if I were ever in Letterman’s audience and his staff chose me to talk about my encounter with a celebrity.
One instance, and I mentioned this to the college newspaper reporter who was interviewing new faculty, came in 1993 when the Bulls were playing the Lakers in the NBA Finals. We were living in Wheaton and I was flying to LA for a meeting the same day that both teams were traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles for the third game. On my flight were the television announcers, Marv Albert and Mike Fratello. Of course, they want to the front to sit in first class and I took my place among the plebes. But first-class and business-class passengers have the same needs and when we arrived at LAX I saw that Marv Albert was heading in the same direction as I was — to the men’s room. And there, low and behold, we occupied adjacent urinal stalls. Thankfully, LAX has stall dividers. So at one point I might have told Dave that I relieved myself next to Marv Albert.
But I could also mention that back when I was waiting tables to support myself through seminary, I waited on the pitchers Steve Carlton and Larry Christiansen, who were coming back to Philadelphia ahead of the Phillies to rest for their respective starts. I’m less inclined to bring this one up, even though I was privileged to be working at one of the best restaurants in the city — Frog — and even though this was the year the Phils won their first championship. Truth be told, I was serving them on a Sunday night. My sabbath convictions not being what they should have been, it’s not a moment of which I am proud.
One last instance is my running into and exchanging pleasantries with Wendy Grantham. She is the actress who played the night club dancer that wound up with Lester Freeman in The Wire. I happened to see her while in line at a Trader Joe’s in Wilmington and tried not to look too carefully at her lest her very big boyfriend think I was checking her out. But I finally summoned up the courage to ask if she had acted in The Wire, she said yes, we shook hands, and talked a little about the show and her career (mainly a singer). I left walking on the clouds since I believe The Wire is the best moving image production ever made.
But all of these encounters pale in comparison to my new found greatness — the Baylys have publicized one of my speaking events. Last night I lectured for the Great Lakes Presbytery of the PCA. Once again the theme was two-kingdom theology. And once again I encountered some criticism — some were even willing to speak of 1k — but also much good will and fraternity.
I can’t say that the Baylys post gave me the same feelings as meeting Wendy Grantham, and I am a little perturbed that they used up two of my fifteen minutes of fame. But, what an honor.
Old Life 